Joe Murnan

Joe Murnan (born 28 September 1983) is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events.

Joe Murnan
Personal information
NicknameMidnight
Born (1983-09-28) 28 September 1983
Hindley, Wigan, England
Home townHalliwell, Bolton
Darts information
Playing darts since1993
Darts24 Gram Target Signature
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on musicCotton Eye Joe by Rednex
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO2006–2011
PDC2011–
Current world ranking86 8 (3 January 2021)[1]
BDO majors – best performances
World MastersLast 40: 2010
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 32: 2016
World MatchplayLast 32: 2015
Grand SlamGroup Stage: 2017, 2018
UK OpenLast 32: 2011, 2014, 2016
Players Ch'ship FinalsLast 32: 2015
Other tournament wins
PDC Challenge Tour England 2015 (x2)
Romanian International Darts Open 2011

Players Championships

Players Championship (CRA) 2015

Career

Murnan reached the last 40 of the 2010 Winmau World Masters, losing 3–0 to Filipino Ronald L Briones.[2]

Murnan qualified for the 2011 UK Open where he reached the last 32. He defeated Mark Dudbridge 9–8 in a close affair, before losing to the 1995 BDO World Darts Champion Richie Burnett 9–6.[3]

In March 2014, he reached the last 32 of the UK Open again, this time being beaten 9–3 by Raymond van Barneveld.[4] Later in the month he progressed to the last 16 of a PDC event for the first time as he beat the likes of Dean Winstanley and Dave Chisnall at the first Players Championship, before losing 6–4 to Andy Hamilton.[5] He won through to the same stage of the third event where he was defeated 6–1 by Gary Anderson.[6] Murnan also qualified for the German Darts Masters, but was eliminated 6–2 by Andy Smith in the first round.[7]

In February 2015 at the German Darts Championship, Murnan beat Michael Barnard 6–5, Ian White 6–4 (averaged 99.72) and Brendan Dolan 6–4 to play in his first PDC quarter-final. He fell 4–0 down to world number one Michael van Gerwen, before closing to 4–3 with a 12 dart leg, but went on to lose 6–4.[8]

In May 2015, at the 10th Players Championship in Crawley, Murnan won his first PDC title and the £10,000 first prize. His run included 6–3 and 6–4 victories over Premier League players Stephen Bunting and Dave Chisnall in the quarter-finals and final, respectively.[9] The win saw him qualify for the World Matchplay for the first time and he trailed Adrian Lewis 7–2 in the opening round. Murnan won four successive legs, but went on to be beaten 10–7 on his televised debut.[10] He was whitewashed 6–0 by Dave Chisnall on his Players Championship Finals debut.[11]

Murnan's title saw him finish the third highest of the non-qualified players on the Pro Tour Order of Merit for the 2016 World Championship.[12] He played 2012 runner-up Andy Hamilton in the first round and, having trailed 2–1 in sets (missing five darts to lead 2–1 himself) and 2–0 down in legs, Murnan managed to pull off a comeback victory to set up a second round match with Alan Norris, which he lost 4–1.[13][14] He was knocked out in the fourth round of the UK Open 9–8 by Jelle Klaasen.[15] Murnan's first quarter-final of 2016 was at the 11th Players Championship event and he was edged out 6–5 by Joe Cullen.[16] He qualified for the World Series of Darts Finals and again lost 6–5 to Cullen.[17] He was also knocked out in the first round of the Players Championship Finals 6–0 by Jermaine Wattimena.[18]

Mark Webster defeated Murnan 3–0 in the opening round of the 2017 World Championship.[19]

Murnan lost his PDC Tour Card at the end of 2018 despite managing to qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts for the second consecutive year. However, he won it straight back at UK Q-School in January 2019 via the Order of Merit, sealing at least another two years on the ProTour.

During UK Open 2020, he defeated Harald Leitinger and Karel Sedláček, making it again to the fourth round. There he lost 4-10 to Ricky Evans. He did not qualify for any other major tournaments and after losing in the deciding match and deciding leg to Ciaran Teehan during UK Qualification for PDC World Darts Championship 2021 he lost a chance to maintain his Tour card.[20]

World Championship results

PDC

Performance timeline

BDO

Tournament20102011
BDO World Championship DNP DNQ
Winmau World Masters 4R 2R

PDC

Tournament20112012201320142015201620172018201920202021
PDC World Championship DNQ 2R 1R DNQ
UK Open 4R 2R DNQ 4R 3R 4R DNQ DNQ 4R 4R
World Matchplay DNQ 1R DNQ
Grand Slam of Darts DNQ RR RR DNQ
Players Championship Finals DNQ 1R 1R 1R DNQ
Non-major televised events
World Series of Darts Finals NH DNQ 1R DNQ
Career statistics
Year-end ranking - 117 103 79 43 37 55 100 87

References

  1. "PDC Order of Merit". PDC.tv. 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  2. http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=2593
  3. http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/PlayerDetails.aspx?playerKey=2582
  4. "Coral UK Open - Saturday Afternoon". PDC. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  5. "Anderson Wins Third Title Of The Year". PDC. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  6. "Anderson Pips Taylor In Crawley". PDC. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  7. "2014 PDC German Darts Masters Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  8. "Mighty Mike's Epic Win In Germany". PDC. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  9. "Debut PDC Title For Super Murnan". PDC. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  10. "BetVictor World Matchplay Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 20 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  11. "Cash Converters PCF - Day One". PDC. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  12. "2016 PDC World Championship Qualifiers". Darts Database. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  13. http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/1mioot5go7iqx1trx6chy3u09c/title/william-hill-world-championship-day-four
  14. "William Hill World Championship Day Ten". PDC. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  15. "2016 Coral UK Open Fourth Round". PDC. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  16. "White Denies Cullen For Barnsley Win". PDC. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  17. "2016 World Series Of Darts Finals Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  18. "2016 Players Championship Finals Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  19. "William Hill World Championship Day Four". PDC. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  20. https://dartsnews.com/pdc/pdpa-world-championship-qualifiers-confirmed-lewis-edgar-and-sedlacek-among-players-through
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.